So who's up for a giveaway?

I'm ready to kick this thing off, how about you?

THE MAKING FRIENDS 'ONE YEAR IN BUSINESS' CELEBRATION GIVEAWAY

First things first, let's talk rules.
1) You are NOT required to 'like' Making Friends on Facebook, favourite Making Friends on Etsy, or follow this blog. However, if you like what you see well enough to want to win it -- well the decent thing to do is to follow in some way, right? So while you don't have to - I would love it if you did.
2) One entry per household. You're on the honour system here. Don't break my heart.
3) There will be ONE DOLL given away. The point of making 3 dolls was to give you a choice and me a push. I think it worked.
4) To enter, please comment on this blog post. Include which doll you'd like to win (which one you like best), what you'd name her, and a way to contact you. The contact info cannot be facebook - I'm not flying in the face of their rules. Etsy would be fine. Email would be fine. Also, don't flake out. I need to know which doll you want in no uncertain terms. If you don't make a choice and your number is drawn, I will move on to the next entry. Ie you'll be winning it for the person under you.
Please keep in mind that you can comment anonymously, but you will need to leave a way to contact you.
5) The giveaway begins now and will close on July 4, 2011. The winner will be drawn at noon EDT, and will be notified immediately.
If it becomes apparent I've left anything out, I'll revisit this post to edit.

Let's have a look!



Our three ladies. Your input at work!



Here's our chocolate doll. She's a brand-new release for Making Friends! A 14" Waldorf doll and new to the line-up.



If you look real close at her hair, you'll see some sparkle. It's hard to capture on camera - but gets lots of notice in person!

Next up, the mocha girl.



Her hair is a layered wig, with lots of great blue highlights.



I absolutely love her outfit. The ruffles kill me!!

And finally the rainbow girl.



Look at those colours! This is something I probably wouldn't have made on my own - so, a big thanks to you! I'm so pleased with how it turned out!



She's just lovely!

If you'd like to see additional photos, there are lots on my Facebook page. Thanks so much for your support and encouragement in the last year.
Good luck everyone! I'm excited!

An update

I'm sure you're all wondering what the status of our 3 dolls might be ...
The mocha and chocolate dolls are fully completed, but need clothing. The peachy doll has a head, the body is sewn, but she is, as yet, unstuffed. I have a very good reason for this  - my poor little baby is sick. He's on antibiotics, and should be feeling better very, very soon - but it took a few days of whiny, clingy child and one climactic night before I realized he needed to see a doctor. Now he's sleeping peacefully. Thank goodness.

As a result of my baby's sickness I've opted to postpone the opening of our giveaway. Keep an eye on this blog - it will be sometime next week.

For your patience, may I offer you a sneak peak?

 

And just as a teaser there is something very different about the chocolate doll. More details next week!

Voting: Round 2. Eyes and hair for our peachy pal

Let's do this thing! One last vote: eye and hair colour for the peachy doll.
Once again, it will take some time to finish up the chocolate doll, so voting is open for an indefinite period. I'll let you know when voting closes.

Copy and paste for simplicity.

Boy or girl:
Hair colour:
Eye colour:

** VOTING IS CLOSED. Thanks again for the ideas!**

Voting: Round 2. Eyes and hair for our chocolate friend.

Since the mocha doll is stuffed and now simply awaiting assembly (which can sometimes take the longest) I thought I'd open voting for the chocolate doll's features. Once again, cut and paste for simplicity.

Boy or girl:
Hair colour:
Eye colour:

**VOTING HAS CLOSED! And it was a very close race. Stay tuned to see the final decision -- next week** 

Cerise

 

While we're all here waiting for news on the dolls in the making, I thought I'd introduce you to Cerise.

 

She and I had an enjoyable morning together. We took photos between sips of mint tea and admiring the flowers in the garden.

Cerise is just about the sweetest young lady I have ever met. She is astonishingly thoughtful, unbelievably polite, in short, she's an absolute joy.

She kind of hates being made to wear her hair like this though. As she puts it, "it's all silly and poofy."


Cerise told me all about her dream to find a very best friend to toast marshmallows, snuggle up to on scary nights, and to delight on a daily basis. I'm sure someone out there would love to love Cerise. If you have someone in mind, you can find her here.

Voting: Round 2. Eyes and hair for our mocha friend.

With the heads all formed and ready to go, and the bodies all sewn up, I'm about 3 days away from hair and eyes for the first of the dolls.
I think we'll do the mocha friend first.

So here's what I need to know -- what will this doll look like? Copy and paste the following into the comments form, and add your input! I can make almost any dream a reality - feel free to be creative!

Boy or girl:
Hair colour:
Eye colour:

Voting will be open until I get the stuffing done - could be as little as a few days or as much as a week depending on the whims of my two tiny children. I'll post the final decision when I'm ready to do hair and eyes.
** VOTING HAS CLOSED! Thanks for your ideas.**

Decided! Skintone.

Looks like a peachy jointed doll, a mocha 10" and a chocolate secret surprise doll.

 

 

Let us begin: the choices

For our giveaway, I'll be making one 10" jointed doll, one 10" fixed limb doll, and one as yet undecided doll. I need you to tell me what the dolls are going to look like - skin tone, eye and hair colour. You may vote via comment for a skin tone with today's post.Tell me which skin tone you like for which style of doll. I will leave the voting open until Friday morning - that gives you 2 days to decide. If I'm going to get three dolls done in three weeks, I need to get busy!

Skin tones. From left to right, we have fair, peachy, mocha, and chocolate.
Peachy skin is only available for a 10" jointed doll.

Kicking off the Making Friends 1st Anniversary Celebration!

First off, welcome to the blog! Feel free to follow if you're interested in updates on shop happenings, etc.

I suspect the real reason you're here is to learn more about the 1st Anniversary Celebration. Let me fill you in.

June 21, 2010 Making Friends was launched. For the first anniversary of the shop, I wanted to do something different. Not just the same old giveaway you see all over the place these days. So here's what we're going to do. Over the next three weeks, with your input I'm hoping to make 3 new dolls. These dolls will be designed by you - the fans of MFDT. When they're all ready, I'll post their photos here on the blog. You're invited to post a comment at that time telling me which one is your favourite. From those comments, I will select a winner. The winner will receive that doll - free of charge.
Still a giveaway (and our first ever) but a giveaway with a difference.